I'm a little saucy - Sauce Basics

Believe it or not, I did not grow up eating pastas.  Fast Italian foods in our house was macaroni and cheese from a box.  The only other thing we ate that could be considered Italian was pizza at Shakey's.  Fun place to have a pizza with all of the family.  In fact, out Shakey's would show old movies, shorts and newsreels on Saturdays.  That is where I saw Buck Rogers, Tarzan and other old fun serials.  When I did start eating pastas when I was older I was relieved to find Alfredo sauce.  I just couldn't get into marinara sauces.  Nothing against tomatoes, I would eat them raw like an apple for breakfast and tomato juice was a staple. 

With time, I had children and found that spaghetti with jarred sauce and frozen meatballs was easy and fast and the kids would eat it.  The thing is that I made the mistake of trying to make my own sauce with no guidance from anyone.  I started by doctoring up jarred sauce by adding a few sauces and ground meat.  The ground meat is a big mistake, it just makes the flavor very bland.  Spicing up the meat helps a bit, but not much.  If this is the way you go, the best solution is not to used ground meat but rather Italian sausage.

The good news is that you can make a sauce from scratch in about the same time you doctor up a jarred sauce.  The are a lot of great ideas out there and while I do not lay out recipes in this blog, there are a few easy things that are a base of any sauce.

1 - Use canned tomatoes to start off your sauce, most chefs do
2 - Some basic Italian spices are: Basil, garlic, parsley, and red peppers
3 - You can usually find wine, olive oil, and olives in almost any Italian dish
4 - With time, it is worth experimenting with all sorts of different vegetables in your sauce like onions, carrots, squash, and zucchini.
5 - Make sauce ahead of time and put it in the freezer.  It should last for at least 6 months.
6 - Worried about the Zombie Apocalypse, try some different jarred sauces, fins one you like and have a few jars on hand, just in case.
7 - Don't freak out if an Italian recipe for Spaghetti sauce calls it gravy.  That's just the way they do it.  :)

Pretending to be Italian - Basic Italian

My Girlfriend and myself in college would go to the real fancy mall in Scottsdale and to get service we would pretend to be from England.  It was amazing!  They would let us try on furs and we would talk about the latest fashion show we had went to in Milan (actually we had just seen it on TV)  and it was a great way to escape from the heat and boredom of being a poor college student. 

For many of us, we pretend to know how to cook food from other cultures and countries.  So we are going to start our journey in Italy because it is one of the easiest.  My friend started dropping cubes of sugar into her champagne after watching Moonstruck.  Everyone makes spaghetti.  Making spaghetti and any pasta that you actually want to eat is a whole other matter.  The basic dish for the beginner is packaged spaghetti and bottled sauce with some kind of meat.  Here is a great link to cooking great pasta that doesn't stick:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Pasta_Rice_Main/pasta.htm

For now we are going to look at making pasta as the next step.  Above I have included a link for America's Test Kitchen.  You can sign up for free to see recipes.  I included this link because it is the best and easiest that I have seen.  Tomorrow - SAUCE!  :)


http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=35740&_auth_token=FkZJ6i0zkcM3u2O%2bRtC2JrsHbVqdYatVyCbSjmIlzoPUVbwjqU%2ftXXSWFAtrF%2bvfbws9mX6DjEejN5aGVkzv5wtWcSu3QiAN5N7RXfIZKhxAGbUHb7HKFvQr2jJxVtY7tr3yJWl6mVcGStgBY9%2bHRA%3d%3d&persist=1



What do you do? - last minute kitchen helps

It has been a while since I have been able to get on but them again it has been a while since I have been in the Kitchen.  I remember tyring to get into my mother-in-law's kitchen to learn how to make certain Chilean dishes I couldn't get right from a recipe.  Rosa was one of those cooks who could make something out of anything and it was delicious.  It seems as if everyone has a mother, grandmother or aunt who is the Kitchen Guru.  You ask them how to make something, they have no idea of how much, why or even what.  They have been doing it for so long it is like breathing to them.  Simply automatic.  You can learn from them, but really it will require time, because you will have to hang out in their kitchen and watch, taste, talk and hopefully be allowed to help.  Just make sure you schedule ahead of time, because there is nothing a Guru hates more than letting people in to their kingdom without permission.

A couple of quick tips I picked up from watching my lovingly remembered Rosa.
1 - To get onion smell off of your hands use lemon juice.
2 - Coffee is a great flavor to add to dishes with sugar or acid (orange flavor)
3 - If you don't have ice cream to make a milk shake or your are lactose intolerant use thick Greek yogurt and gelatin
4 - You can make butter milk by adding lemon to milk
5 - You should always add sugar to spicy foods to enhance flavors
6 - Cooking is easy, getting people to eat what you make is the hard part
7 - Love really does make food taste better
8 - If you burn it, bread and butter is always a good alternative
9 - You can feed more people by adding potatoes to whatever you have made
10 - You can use Diet Dr. Pepper in brownies to replace the wet ingredients and Sprite to cake to make it moist..  Applesauce is also pretty good.  :)

So make an appointment, stalk a Guru and find  your own tips as you learn to love even more that important person in your life you stand of awe in every time you enter the kitchen.

Rice, rice and more rice

I thought I knew about rice because I could cook 5 minute rice and add a few veggies and I was ready to go.  Then as some of you know, I went to live in Chile.  Everyone there makes rice and they make it from scratch.  They cook it to serve as a side, in soups and in other dishes.  Chile is not a bean and rice county perse, but is an important, unexpensive staple of their diet as it is in many other countries around the world.  Also, rice is gluten free, so it makes for a great supper addition or potluck dish extender.

I have included 2 links from www.food.com that clearly explain about rice, the different colors, sizes and great flavors to add to it.  Honestly, I still mess-up rice at times and there are times that no matter what I add to it, it tastes really bland; but it is worth the torture of getting it right.  Here are a few tips about working with rice.

First, rinse your rice.  You can actually rinse it two to three times depending on the time you hav to ccok.  It helps to get rid of some the of the starch that causes stickiness and sometimes rice has a white powder that may be on it especially if it comes from certain countries.  If your rice is old, you might want to soak it for 30 minutes to help make it less brittle, but be sure to drain off ALL of the water. Also, if you need the rice to cook faster, soaking helps that too.

Right amount of water - for fluffy rice use a little less than the ratio of one cup of rice to two cupes of water (like 1 3/4 cups)  If you like stick rice that the 1:2 ratio is fine.  Also depending on the flavor and the dish you are serving it with you can use any flavor stock that you like.

Gentle Heat - Start out your rice by adding boiling water or stock, but cook your rice at a low temperature for a nice slow cook.  It should take from 15 to 20 minutes

Tight lid - make sure your lid does not allow steam to escape, as that is a principal reaction necessary to get the grain to expand and cook through.

Resting period - when you rice is the texture you like when you try it, take it off the heat and leave it to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.  Yes, this means that toward the end of the cooking phase you will have to take the lid off, but try to do that as little as possible.  After you have let it rest, fluff the rice with a fork and you are good to go. 

the great thing about rice is that you can add anything to it and make a great meal from it.  Meat, veggies, tomato sauce, milk to make a dessert, etc.  Have fun and let the rice times roll!


http://www.food.com/library/rice-160

http://www.food.com/library/wild-rice-290

Yeah, I know it's Corny - Corn Basics

There are times we all crave really crazy things.  One of those times is when you are pregnant if you are a woman.  I have noticed in my boys that growth spurts also cause them.  One of the most interesting ones that has happened in my household, and more than once is corn.  Corn on the cob, popcorn, creamed corn, cornbread, buttered corn, corn salad with cilantro and mayo. etc.  I try to take refuge in that I am from Iowa, and while we are not "The Corn" state (that's Nebraska), we grow and eat a lot of corn.  Believe me when I say that at night on a summer's day you can hear corn grow.  So I think my boys got the corn craving from me.  One other often forgot point is that corn is also a grain, not a vegetable.

The Whole Grain council says that fresh corn is a vegetable and dried corn is a grain.  To me, a grain is a grain.  Here are some great tips from them to make cooking with fresh corn easy.  Fresh corn is very easy to make boiled or grilled and very tasty.  Once cooked try adding different things like other cultures; things like hot sauce, cheese, mayo, and beans.

COOKING

Sweet corn is the best during late summer and early fall (except in Florida, where it is harvested from fall to spring). It should be eaten as soon as possible after harvesting, because the sugars start converting to starches as soon as the corn is picked. However, if you need to store corn, leave the corn in the husk and refrigerate as soon as possible. If the corn has been husked, place it in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator. Corn that has been cut off the cob can be frozen for 6 months to a year.

Here are some other tips for cooking with fresh sweet corn:

• Remove silk when shucking corn by moving a damp paper towel down against the cob, allowing the silk to stick to the towel. This removes small strands of silk that often adhere to the cob after the husks are removed, and does not damage the kernels.
• Don't add salt to the water when cooking sweet corn because it will toughen the corn. Add a little sugar to the water to boost the flavor.
• Good, fresh, sweet corn does not need to be cooked for long. Try cooking it for just 3 minutes, and see how delicious it can be. You'll never go back to cooking it longer.
• Two to three medium ears of corn are equivalent to approximately 1 pound, depending on ear size. Two medium ears equal approximately 1 to 1 1/2 cups of kernels.
• Corn is best enjoyed the same day it's picked. Look for farm stands that have picked your corn early that same morning!
  
  
  
  
  

The United States of Grains

I was shocked at age 8 when I realized that not all bread was white.  As you can tell my mother did not make bread or buy anything but white sandwich bread when I was young.  Both she and I have changed with time.  Anyway,  when I started baking and making shortcake, I began looking at the cookbook and saw the bread section.  They talked about wheat bread.  Wait, I thought, isn't all bread made from wheat?  What's the difference in flour they are talking about?  With time I discovered the world of grains.  In college I spent about 3 months being a vegetarian.  Then again I also wore a crystal, dressed in black and walked around barefoot.  You have got to love college days.  There was this great middle-eastern store and restaurant.   There it was all about humus and new types of beans and cereals.  As I got older, I wanted to use these different types of grains in my everyday life, but wasn't sure where to start.

SO here goes my beginners tips to using grains in everyday life in a very simple way.  Today, let's just focus on breakfast.  If you are nervous about cooking just go for the whole grain cereals you can buy at the store.  Easy; cereal, milk, bowl and milk.  :)  Ready for a bit more, whole grain bread toasted and covered in butter and jam.  If you are up for cooking, then it is time for oatmeal.  My grandmother Dorothy was 100% Scottish and Oatmeal was at every breakfast. Ever her cats ate oatmeal.  There is a debate on whether whole grain oatmeal or quick cooking oatmeal is best, but hey, in the end it is all oatmeal.  The trick here is to work out the ratio that works best for you in water and/or milk to oatmeal.. First time out just follow the instructions and don't forget to stir.  With time try different amounts of liquid to see what is the consistency you like best.  Try adding different flavors with fruit, vanilla, cinnamon, tarragon, chocolate, nuts, etc (just not all at the same time, and yes I am being sarcastic)  Have fun with Breakfast.  Tomorrow we'll talk about lunch and feel free to leave your ideas for others to see too.